SILLY, WILLIE ‘Cue star’s love chats went to wife’s iPad’
Love messages from Thorne to woman went to wife’s iPad
THE wife of snooker legend Willie Thorne has told how she discovered he was swapping messages with another woman when they popped up on their paired iPads.
Former Miss Great Britain Jill Saxby said she found them while checking to see if gambling addict Willie was betting again.
Willie, 65, strongly denied he had done anything wrong and
Jill ended up staying with him.
She claimed: “I was actually looking to see if he’d been gambling. If he owed £300,000, I wanted to find out.
“It was horrendous, there were messages saying how much he loved her and she’d say, ‘Ditto.’ Others said things like, ‘Been thinking about you all day.’
“Our iPads were paired so I could see what was on his. He didn’t realise the messages were coming through.
“I was devastated. After standing by him, I was thinking, ‘This can’t be real.’
“I told him, ‘I’ve seen those messages.’ He cried and said it was someone who wanted an autograph and asked about Strictly. I didn’t know what to believe.”
Jill stuck with Willie for five years after the January 2014 incident.
However, the final straw for their marriage came when their £475,000 Leicestershire home was repossessed earlier this year.
Jill told how losing the house, just weeks before her 60th birthday, convinced her she had to get out of the relationship before her health suffered.
She said: “In June, we lost the house. In July, I turned 60. I couldn’t endure it any more. I had to get out before I had a nervous breakdown. One morning I packed a case, went to the airport and left.”
Over the years, Jill had stood by Willie as the snooker champion racked up £1million in gambling debts and was made bankrupt. She also helped him recover from two suicide attempts and nursed him through two minor strokes and a prostate cancer scare.
But his debts left Jill too scared to answer her own front door after two baseball bat-wielding gangsters turned up and demanded £300,000. On another occasion, debt collectors threatened to chop off her fingers unless Willie paid up.
Jill added: “I would say to him, ‘Are you gambling?’ He would deny it. “He would fly off the handle and disappear for two or three days.” She then learned that Willie had been pawning her jewellery to pay off his debts.
She went on: “He said he needed my engagement ring or he’d be in big trouble. It was my ring or other pieces of jewellery which kept going and coming back.
“He even gave away my car, an Audi TT, logbook and everything. He said he had to give the car to this person before he got ‘filled in.’”
Jill eventually left Willie in October after 24 years together.
She said: “He admitted he’d been a sh** and selfish. He said he didn’t realise how much he loved me.
“I don’t wish him any ill. I’m not trying to make people feel bad of him. But this is what gambling does. I believe it has warped him.
“I want people in a situation like Willie to read this and see how gambling affects you.”
Jill is now staying with family until she gets back on her feet.
She plans to return to her career as a speech therapist and is an advisor to the 20-20 Voice Cancer charity.
Willie Thorne declined to comment on her claims.
CUE ace Willie Thorne was caught out because love messages on his iPad also went to his wife’s tablet.
What a potty thing to do, Willie!